Range hoods are used above cooking surfaces to remove grease, common odors and hazardous gases created during the cooking process. Typically, range hoods have a pair of motors horizontally installed in a motor housing within the hood body. Each motor drives a fan. The fans draw air from the cooking area below and force it through the motor housing to ventilation piping.
As the vaporized grease contained in the entrained air travels through the motor housing, some of it condenses on the inside walls of the housing. It is known in the art to provide a washing fluid under pressure in order to clean the interior of the exhaust system. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,945 teaches an exhaust system in which a washing fluid under pressure is used to clean the flue and fan. Further washing fluid systems are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,795,181 and 4,085,735. 
While use of a washing fluid obviates the need to manually clean the interior of the range hood, it does provide its own set of difficulties, such as maintaining an adequate supply of washing fluid and the disposal of used washing fluid.
The '735 patent teaches a washing system that is connected to the city water supply so as to provide a constant supply of washing fluid. The grease and used washing fluid drains from a grease receptor to an appropriate grease collection facility. While this system provides a solution to obtaining a steady supply of washing fluid, hooking a range hood washing system to the city water supply is not always practical or possible. Furthermore, once the washing fluid is used it is considered waste and is disposed of.
It is also known in the art to place a refillable reservoir within the interior of the range hood so as to provide a supply of washing fluid. A fluid delivering nozzle is fitted into a hole in the side of the motor housing so as to deliver a spray of washing fluid to clean the interior of the housing. The washing fluid is delivered under pressure by a pump that is connected to the refillable reservoir of washing fluid. The reservoir may be filled through a coverable hole located in the range hood exterior. Once used, the washing fluid and any grease travelling therewith drains to an external grease receptacle.
While this refillable reservoir overcomes the problem of having to tap into a constant supply of washing fluid, due to its limited size it must be refilled often in order to ensure a constant supply of washing fluid. Furthermore, because all the used washing fluid and grease drains to the external receptacle, the receptacle must be emptied regularly in order to ensure it does not overflow, which would cause an unwanted mess.
Therefore, while these prior art systems reduce the amount of manual cleaning required of the range hood exhaust systems, they suffer from the deficiencies noted  above. Furthermore, given that once used the washing fluid is disposed of as waste, the systems as a whole are wasteful. Society is increasingly aware of environmental concerns, particularly those associated with use of water. Given the increased consumer awareness of the benefits of conservation of our natural resources, an improvement to these wasteful systems is desired.
It is therefore an object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a range hood having a cleaning assembly that reuses used washing fluid.
It is a further object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a cleaning solution container for a range hood that is larger in size relative to the cleaning solution containers of the prior art.
Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description that follows.